


you put your arms around me and i'm home

by aheartofkyber



Category: Callisto 6 (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hugging, Mentions of PTSD sorta, Spoilers for Issue 2.3 and beyond, and Panic Attacks mildly, can be shippy or not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 09:16:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17957804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aheartofkyber/pseuds/aheartofkyber
Summary: In the aftermath of their fight with Jerome, Anton and Lindy bicker...and comfort each other.





	you put your arms around me and i'm home

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I haven't written anything in forever, but I ship it. I ship it like burning. I'm working on a personal playlist for them gdi. I'm rowing this canoe.

_knock knock_

Blinking away the news report he’d been watching, Anton’s eyes land on Hopps who was clearly the cause of the soft knocking at his open door. 

“I didn’t mean to-” she starts, nervously glancing at her feet. “I didn’t mean to bother you I just…”

“Hey, you’re not bothering me. Come in.” He smoothly stands and walks towards her, offering his hand which she takes without thought. Anton wasn’t sure when it became so natural for them to touch, but ever since Jerome...well, he couldn’t help wanting to feel her warm hand in his. To make sure she was still with him. To make sure she was safe.

It’s only when she’s seated on his bed that he takes notice of the neatly wrapped present that she’d brought with her. That meant, “You went home.” Looking at her face, Lindy doesn’t have to answer for Anton to know he’s right.

What takes him off guard the most are the tears running down her face. He hadn’t seen her cry since….Lindy smiles, “Yeah….yeah, Cass came with me. I got your present.” She makes an effort to color her words with false cheer. 

The moment she tries to hand him the box, Anton just simply wraps her in his arms. 

Her breath stutters heavy against his chest before she starts to cry. Ever since her...death, Anton had been waiting for something like this. He should’ve known it would be her mother. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks after several minutes when she finally calms. Anton doesn’t say the words with accusation, but with regret. “I could’ve gone with you.”

“I….I know I should have….it just it really affected you too and I didn’t want you to have to think about it, I guess….I don’t know. I think I thought you’d be angry.” Lindy pulls away from him, only slightly, to wipe the tears from her face. 

“Angry? Why would I be angry with you?” 

“Not with me Anton...I thought you’d be mad at mom. She didn’t...she missed me, but she really didn’t even realize I was gone.” more tears run down her face and Anton doesn’t resist the urge to wipe them away. “I was really gone though….And I couldn’t even think of what to say to her.” 

She wasn’t wrong, not entirely. He was angry with Mrs. Hopper. Even more now. Grief does awful things to people, of this he was more than aware of through recent experience, but a child should never have to grow up as fast as Lindy did. 

“But it’s fine. It’s done. Seeing her will be easier now that I’ve already gone, ya know?” 

“I think so, but….”

The pause hangs between them.

Until, “But?”

“Lindy, you know you don’t have to be strong all the time right?” 

Again, silence fills the space around them only this time she pulls even further away from him. “You’re the only one that calls me that anymore...Lindy. Dad used too.” 

Anton looks at her with confusion, “Hopps-”

“No don’t-” she pulls his hand into hers, “I like it when you say it. It’s nice.” 

“Lindy,” he continues with a sigh. His grip tightening around hers almost like he’s trying to keep her there...with him. “You don’t have to deal with all this alone. And I really don’t want you to think you can’t talk to me about it because….Well, because I’m very clearly dealing with my own PTSD....stuff I guess-”

“I talked to Cass.” The words rush out of Lindy so fast it takes Anton a few moments to fully register what she’s said. 

“What-”

She pulls his hand closer, grasping it between both of her own. “After...I died. When I woke up I mean, I know you guys kinda filled me in, but you didn’t really _fill me in_. And after your...panic attack, I sorta made Cass give me details.” 

“Lindy-”

“I needed to know how bad it really was Anton. And-” when she pauses Anton knows that she is trying not to cry again. “You both almost died too….Anton, you almost died trying to save me.” 

“Lindy-”

“You got shot like seven times because of me-”

“Lindy-”

“You can’t do that. What happens the next time things go bad in a fight? You can’t-”

“Do you think for a second that I could do any of this without you?” He’s standing now, he’s not sure when that happened. For a moment, his arms are longer than he means for them to be. He takes a second to adjust. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things haven’t exactly been very...very zen lately-”

“Anton-”

“The only time any of this feels remotely normal is when you’re with me, ok?” 

“You can’t risk your life for me-”

Anton shakes his head, “You don’t get to decide that! We’re all risking our lives for each other everyday.” 

“You know what I mean Anton!” She’s standing now too, the gift left abandoned on his bed. 

“I can’t lose you Lindy!” When did their voices raise? “Not again. Not after this, not after I just got you back.” 

“If you had died, it would’ve been my fault.”

He doesn’t reply. 

“It would be my fault, just like my dad. You can’t...I can’t have that. I couldn’t handle it.” Her hands go to her face, rubbing away tears of frustration. With her face almost as red as her hair, Lindy takes a breath, her voice suddenly quiet, “You know I can’t lose you too.” The fight goes out of her suddenly as she slumps back down on his bed. 

The silence is deafening. It takes Anton longer than he’d like to find the words, but when he does he’s kneeling in front of her, “I can’t promise that I won’t take another shot for you-”

“Or seven-”

“It was more like four.” He lets a small laugh escape him, “I vividly remember it being four.” 

“That doesn’t make it any better-”

“What I can promise you is that it’s not your fault.” Anton could swear his heart swells more than it should when she meets his gaze, “It wasn’t your fault and it never will be.” 

“I wasn’t there. The day he died. I wasn’t with him like I was supposed to be.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” 

“I saw him. In my...dream. He-he told me not to be scared.” 

“I agree with him.” 

“I miss him, Anton.” 

“I know.” 

He’s not sure if he pulls her to him or if she falls, but it’s not long before they’re hugging on the floor of his new bedroom in Blue Dolphin Base. A tickling sensation in the back of his head makes Anton distinctly aware of someone watching them. He ignores the feeling, choosing to concentrate on the girl in his arms. 

Cass never mentions seeing their embrace. 

Anton isn’t sure how long they sit there like that, but eventually Lindy pulls away, handing him his gift once again. “Open it.” 

The box is wrapped in colorful purple and red paper and the ribbon looks new as Anton pulls it from the package and places it neatly on Hopps’ head. She giggles, putting a smile on his face. 

Inside the white box underneath all of the wrapping paper, he finds exactly what Lindy told him he would when she first awoke. Chakra Stones; amethyst, yellow jade, carnelian and others. They were beautiful. 

“Thank you Lindy.”

She leans in, as close as she had been when he’d wrapped her in his arms on the prison transport, and kisses him on the cheek sending a different kind of electricity flowing through his veins. “Think of them as less of a birthday gift and more of a ‘thank you for saving my life’ gift.” 

“Either’s fine, but you never have to thank me for saving your life.” 

“How about ‘thank you for always looking out for me’?” 

“Yeah, I think that works.”


End file.
